Coca‑Cola cuts waste with Attached Caps
As the world’s biggest drinks company, Coca‑Cola is leading the way with the introduction of attached caps across the entire Coca‑Cola portfolio in Great Britain.
05-07-2023
Attached caps on bottles make it easier to keep all parts of our packaging together, so it’s easier to collect and recycle every part of a drinks bottle once you’re done with it. This new design ensures that when Coca‑Cola customers recycle our bottles, no cap gets left behind, helping to boost collection and recycling, and reduce litter.
All of Coca‑Cola’s bottles, including the caps, have been 100% recyclable for many years but not all are being recycled. Bottle caps are often discarded and littered. Our innovative new design means that the cap stays connected to the bottle after opening, reducing the potential for it to be thrown away while still giving our customers the experience they know and love.
From today, new attached caps will be introduced to 1.5L bottles of Fanta, Diet Coke and Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar. The switch is set to be completed for all plastic bottles across Coca‑Cola Great Britain’s entire range by early 2024.
How Coca‑Cola is leading the way
Ever since we launched the original Coca‑Cola recipe way back in 1886, we’ve been pioneers in the refreshment industry, with a journey into space being just one of our ground-breaking achievements.
Now, Coca‑Cola is the first major soft drinks company to announce the switch to attached caps across our entire range in Great Britain. This accompanies major initiatives both globally and locally to help create a “circular economy” for plastic, working towards a World Without Waste.
Attached caps mark the next logical step in our journey towards a World Without Waste, following on from 2021, where we reached our target of using 100% recycled plastic – excluding caps and labels – in all our 500ml or smaller bottles sold in Great Britain. We achieved this ahead of schedule, and it helps to save around 29,000 tonnes of plastic every year.
Coca‑Cola continues to work with partners to leverage their expertise to address broader packaging and resource sustainability issues. We are proud to be a member of The UK Plastics Pact and worked with NGOs including Hubbub, raising awareness and driving real solutions in our move toward a packageless future, and more responsible use of the planet’s natural resources.
Adam Herriott, Sector Specialist at WRAP, explains: “This great move from Coca‑Cola Great Britain supports the on-going work with the UK Plastics Pact in trying to ensure that as much plastic packaging is captured and recycled as possible.
“In 2020 we saw the amount of plastic packaging being recycled increase from 44% to 52%. The small changes are what adds up to make a big difference and when it comes to recycling, the higher quality of the material the better. We look forward to seeing more innovations in this area.”
It’s the combination of these actions and initiatives that sums up what #WorldWithoutWaste means to Coca‑Cola, and we’re proud to help provide solutions to solve the world’s packaging problems through clever design, driving collection rates and working with partners to make a difference.